The Lava Hut

I imagine everyone that has had a tiki drink ever has had some version of a Mai Tai. The real question is how close is that drink to the original Mai Tai. From my research there are conflicting stories of how the drink came to be, but from what I can tell the most accepted tale says that Trader Vic Bergeron created the drink in one of his tiki bars in California in 1944. Within the origin story of the drink there are conflicts on how the name was given to the drink. No matter what the real story that isn’t why you’re here today.

A little more history before the goods.

The original recipe in 1944 used ingredients that simply are no longer available. For starters the rum of choice is no longer in production (I still don’t know why). Due to the Mai Tai’s popularity back in the day the 17 year old rum was drank nearly out of existence. There are a few bottles that are in private collections and have stupid high price tags (I mean seriously $$$$$$$). The idea drinking the original is so beyond my ability to even try that I don’t even pretend that, that could ever be an option.

Side note though… there is a brand Appleton Estates that has worked to recreate the original as close as they possibly can, with a 15 year old bottle. That seems great, we can try the original and see how it was…. Wrong they have a limited run planned and the bottles are not cheap, they are average $500 (well above what I am willing to pay for a bottle) and restaurants that have a bottle on the shelf are charging $75 plus for a single Mai Tai. While I could save and get my self a glass of what is, as close as I can get to the original I can’t justify that for one drink. Plus I secretly fear I will like it and want another. I built my own tiki bar to save money and that would not be saving any money…

Ok back to the drink, the original recipe is as follows:

1944 Trader Vic’s Mai Tai

• 2 ounces of 17 year old Wray & Nephew rum
• The juice from one lime (about 1 ounce)
• 1/2 ounce of Holland DeKuyper Orange Curacao
• 1/2 ounce of French Garnier Orgeat
• 1/4 ounce Rock Candy Syrup

Half a lime shell as garnishment (It becomes an island)
Mint (Be generous) and don’t forget to slap it!

So the rum we discussed earlier is no longer an option, that isn’t a problem at least for me mainly because I don’t know what I am missing. While learning about rum recipes I have seen many versions of the Mai Tai that have different blends of rum to get to the 2oz needed. It’s all very confusing at first because well to be frank I didn’t know what I needed to know and had no idea how many layers there is to rum.

I quickly learned that the Mai Tai is everyone’s go to drink when they talk tiki and because everyone is different everyone prefers something the Mai Tai has been changed by pretty much everyone, myself included.

Having a home tiki bar allows me to make any drink any way want. It also allows me to be lazy and cut corners. While I do choose to make my own syrups and squeeze my own juices (except for pineapple), I do skip the mint and lime shell nearly every time I make a Mai Tai. Combining ingredients also makes it so it need one less bottle to keep track of.

While I have decided that making drinks at home is about what I want and not what someone else says it has to be, I do use their recipes as guidelines. so I have created my own Mai Tai and I am calling it The Z-Tai (For obvious reasons)

2023 Trader Zach’s Z-Tai

• 2 oz Rum (Any Combination totaling 2oz)
• 1/2 oz of Grand Marnier
• 3/4 oz fresh(-ish) squeezed Lime Juice
• 1/2 oz Orgeat (My Home made Version)

When trying new rums I have used the Z-Tai to get a handle on the taste of the rum without adding anything I haven’t already tasted and can’t identify. I have been able to learn more about what I am tasting and understand what others are talking about when they describe a drink.

One last thing for this blog post, while I am not willing to pay $150 plus for an ice maker at home that will make pellet ice, I am not above driving to Sonic and getting a bag of ice in the drive through for $3.23. A tip I learned watching Spikes Breezeway on Youtube.